Category Archives: holiday

Hello everyone! How are you all? I hope you have been enjoying the Holiday season with family and friends. So…are you ready for 2014?

I think I am. I’m excited about the new possibilities and adventures ahead!

Of course, it’s always good to look back over the year and appreciate all the beautiful experiences we’ve had. To ponder all that we have learned and how we have grown. The mistakes, the regrets…it’s all part of our path so don’t focus on those too much. ;) The choices we make now are what truly matters. What will you do with your New Year? What changes will you make? How will you choose to spend your time? These are all things that are on my mind today.

One of my “resolutions” is to DO MORE ART! I am now referring to my office as my studio and I re-organized the entire thing to display all my paints, brushes and artsy stuff. Easily accessible and ready for me. I signed up for an art retreat. I hung up images that inspire me. It felt SO good to set this intention! Now, I just have to do the work (not that art ever feels like work to me). Come to think of it…doing the art isn’t the hard part. It’s moving past the fear, the doubt and the all too familiar and un-nerving sensation that once I begin it could end in a complete ugly disaster.

Hi there my friends! How are you? I hope you are enjoying Fall. We have had a glorious, sun filled October, so of course, a visit to the local Pumpkin Patch was in order! I captured some shots of Claire among the piles of pumpkins. The autumn light has been so very pretty! Grace, thankfully, jumped into the last one too! (She was very busy visiting with all the animals on location so it was hard to pull her away!)

“I want this one!”

After a little hunting, we found four lovely pumpkins. One for each of us. Of course, we also managed to go home with fudge, fresh pumpkin donuts and homemade berry jam. Yum! I didn’t grow up going to a Pumpkin patch for Halloween but I’m happy this has become a sweet tradition for our family.

What traditions do you have in your family for this time of year?

Enjoy the rest of the week.

xo,

Ivy

P.S. I am still working on my Brené Brown homework. I will be sharing it with you soon, I promise. By the way, her book = TOTALLY life-changing!

Hello there! How is life treating you this week? Besides a pesky summer cold, I’m doing quite well and I’m so thankful that last weekend I got to get away with a dear friend for a creative retreat! We stayed at the sweetest cottage in the quaint Oregon beach town of Manzanita. Here are some shots via my Instagram…

This cottage doesn’t get any cuter right? It is the perfect place for a beach getaway.

The vintage kitchen is adorable with layered personal touches and unique collections.

After we had substantial amounts of coffee we would move outside into the “garage” which is really an amazing outbuilding that my friend Candace converted into a charming dining hall. Strung with lights and adorned with artwork, old wine bottles and other beautiful objects it feels like a beachy treasure trove. The energy in this space is fantastic and you can tell many wonderful evenings have been spent at the long farmhouse table. We were immediately inspired.

It didn’t take long for us to spread out and get right into a creative zone…

After a little bit of art journaling and playing with my watercolors…

I began a small mixed media piece…

Almost done…

And finished!

It was an amazing weekend and I was sad to leave. As much as I missed my family, having some precious time to focus on art was such a gift. Katie and I agreed to do it again soon! Thank you, Candace for letting us stay at your magical home!

Hope you are enjoying your weekend. I know Valentine’s is over but I wanted to share the collage card project Grace and I did for her classroom. I think this simple method of creating cards is really fun and can be done for any occasion.

Grace and I have done many collages but I have discovered that the best success is found when I curate the materials. Usually sticking with a theme or color palette allows your kiddo to make choices and express themselves without being overwhelmed. There have been plenty of times when I threw down a mass amount of stickers and papers only to find the Grace got overwhelmed and upset when her finished artwork looked “messy”. She simply had too many choices in front of her. Providing just a little framework meant that she got to be creative and enjoy her results too. Nothing is worse than an afternoon spent crafting only to end up with a grumpy kid, a paper strewn floor and glue everywhere. A creative buzz kill.

Before Grace got home from school I had cut out and organized the elements that would be used for the Valentine cards. This made it easy for Grace to make her selections and understand the color palette.

Scrapbook paper and vintage music sheets were punched into hearts using this handy dandy punch. Scrap booking die cuts and sticky jewels make easy embellishments – we had to make 25 of these cards after all! A little glitter was used at the end for a special touch of sparkle and buttons were a fun 3D addition. K & Company has some of the prettiest supplies and are my go to for scrapbooking goodies!

We had so much fun making these! I would have pics of all of them but it was dark by the time we were finished!

Hi friends! How are you? It’s been quite some time since I’ve had the opportunity to share something with you! As usual, life’s been crazy but I’m happy to report that we are all getting a little more sleep (most nights) and it has greatly improved the general mood in the Newport house. Plus, it’s hard to be grumpy with all the Christmas decorations up. I do love this time of year! So let me take you on a tour of our house…who doesn’t love some holiday sparkle?

First off…welcome to our living room where we place our prized, live, Grand Fir Christmas tree. Isn’t she a beauty? I usually do this tree in soft gold, silver and touch of light blue. I crown her with sparkling branches in stead of the traditional star.

I love using my vintage items in my decorating so this antique, turquoise seltzer bottle takes center stage on the coffee table.

A frost covered forest was my inspiration for the greenery…

This beautiful, old clock dates back to the 1890’s and was found on one of my many treasure hunting trips.

Strung from the mantel with a piece of twine, hangs vintage postcards featuring birds and antique European letters.

Come through to the dining room where the winter forest theme continues…

A vintage printers tray is displayed on one wall filled with glimmering bits and pieces and antique French postcards…

On the kitchen table, I have featured a vintage silver bowl filled with budding paper-whites. I have always wanted to do these! Can’t wait to see them in full bloom!

I may have overdone the roses…but in my opinion, you can’t have enough and they pair so well with the tarnished silver, don’t you think?

Look who couldn’t resist jumping up on the table to get into my shot – none other, than my ever curious cat – Toby…

Thanks for coming along and checking out my holiday decor. I had a blast putting everything up (with the help of the hubby)! My family gets here this week, so I may not be posting much until after Christmas. I wish you all the very best for the holidays! Thank you for all your wonderful comments and loving support! I will see you in the New Year!

Hi everyone! How was your Thanksgiving? Hope it was lovely. Our was wonderful and relaxing…a day of cooking, watching football and sipping wine. Such fun! Tomorrow our Christmas lights go up and I’m so excited. There is something so enchanting about all those twinkling lights! I do love this time of year! So when I got the chance to steal Grace away from the crowd for a little photo shoot, I couldn’t resist adding some Winter magic to each shot…

Now, let’s hope we get a little snow this winter, just enough to make everything pretty for a few days.

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Welcome

Hi there. I'm Ivy and Welcome to Grace & Ivy! I'm an artist, photographer, teacher and mother. I believe we are all creative beings. By sharing my creative journey, I hope to inspire, uplift and shine light on others and their own unique gifts. I love featuring other artists that inspire me and you will see me posting my own creative projects and process. Enjoy and if you have any questions don't hesistate to email me ivette@graceandivy.com